The Centre on Monday condemned Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's recent utterances against India, and said his designation as a global terrorist by the United States was "well deserved".
Home Ministry spokesperson Ashok Prasad said the government had been describing Salahuddin as a terrorist all along, and his own remarks had confirmed that.
"His designation as a global terrorist by the US is well deserved," he told reporters.
Prasad said Salahuddin was also "instrumental" in providing funds to terrorists and separatists and giving other kinds of assistance to the militants.
Salahuddin had on July 1 claimed that his group had the capability to launch attacks inside India.
The US declared him a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" on June 27.
"We are not terrorists... Our struggle is for freedom from India and it will continue till the liberation of Kashmir," the 71-year-old Kashmiri separatist leader, who is based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, had said.